Colleagues on the Eritrean's team were quick to voice their congratulations on Twitter, writing: "Lost for words right now... Battling to see what's going on through the tears. Dream come true to have the polka-dot jersey!"

Teklehaimanot's achievement came when a sprint ride at the Cote du Tilleul saw him cross in first place on the final category four climb of the day.

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The 2012 London Olympian -- who had surgery to correct tachycardia, a condition resulting in a faster than normal resting heart rate, in 2009 -- was the first of the 198 riders to start the opening time trial of this year's Tour.

But there was a cruel setback for Tony Martin, who broke his collarbone in a crash as stage six of the Tour drew to a close.

As Czech Zdenek Stybar made a late dash to win the stage, his Etixx-QuickStep teammate Martin suffered injury in a crash that could spell the end of his participation in this year's race.

However, the German retains the leader's yellow jersey because race rules say a rider held up in an incident in the final three kilometers of a stage is credited with the same time as the winner.

Photos:Tour de France 2015: Huge crash mars stage 3

After Sunday's rain and brutal crosswinds, the sun made a welcome return for the 159.5-kilometer route from Anvers to Huy in Belgium. But stage three of this year's Tour de France proved to be anything but plain sailing.

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Photos:Tour de France 2015: Huge crash mars stage 3

There was 65 kilometers of the stage to go when a high-speed crash took out around 20 riders. The pile up caused the race to be stopped ("neutralized") temporarily allowing those involved in the collision time to recover and rejoin the peleton. The accident was one of the worst in the tour's history.

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Photos:Tour de France 2015: Huge crash mars stage 3

Riders and their bikes lay in crumpled heaps for several minutes as team and race officials rushed to their aid.

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Photos:Tour de France 2015: Huge crash mars stage 3

Overnight leader Fabian Cancellara was thrown over his handlebars. The Swiss rider fractured his back earlier in the season but managed to get back on his bike and struggle manfully to the finish. Others were unable to continue. William Bonnet of France, Dutch rider Tom Dumoulin, Australia's Simon Gerrans and Dmitry Kozontchuk of Russia were all forced to retire from the race. Cancellara would later withdraw himself after it was revealed he had suffered another fractured vertebrae.

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Photos:Tour de France 2015: Huge crash mars stage 3

French rider William Bonnet lies battered, bloodied and bruised at the roadside following the crash. A subsequent trip to hospital revealed that he also had a fractured vertebrae.

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Photos:Tour de France 2015: Huge crash mars stage 3

Spain's Joaquin Rodriguez Oliver, rider for Team Katusha went on to win the stage ...

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Photos:Tour de France 2015: Huge crash mars stage 3

... while Germany's Andre Greipel (Lotto-Soudal) took possession of the green (sprinter's) jersey.

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Photos:Tour de France 2015: Huge crash mars stage 3

But it was Team Sky's Chris Froome who finished as overall leader. The Briton, who won the tour in 2013, leads Germany's Tony Martin by a second with U.S. rider Tejay Van Garderen lying third, 13 seconds behind Froome.